A study on the initiative of 7 patrons who wish to change the game

Since 2022, Break Poverty Foundation has set up a Cercle de la Petite Enfance (Early Childhood Circle), bringing together more than 25 corporate donors to identify concrete courses of action to reduce inequalities from the earliest age. Indeed, it is now well documented that the burden of poverty is measured very early on. From the age of 2, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to suffer from poor health and have learning difficulties than children from wealthy backgrounds. These disparities are the first step in the terrible mechanism of social determinism in our country, where it takes 6 generations to escape poverty.

As such, Break Poverty Foundation unveils an original study on inequalities from the earliest age, and proposes concrete solutions to remedy these inequalities. Initiated by seven corporate sponsors sensitive to the challenges of early childhood – Okola, le Fonds de dotation bioMérieux pour l’éducation, la Fondation Lama, la Fondation Pierre Bellon, la Fondation Rothschild et la Fondation TotalEnergies – this book is intended to be the starting point for an alliance to prevent inequalities from the earliest age.

The aim of the work carried out was dual:

1. Produce a strategic roadmap for private funders to support and promote concrete actions to support parenthood.

2. Inform public decision-making by providing up-to-date data on inequalities from the earliest age, and making concrete recommendations for public policy to be pursued.

9 months of hard work to come up with concrete recommendations

To achieve these ambitious goals, BPF teams conducted a 9-month study based on the following four work modules:

• A full phase of analysis of inequalities from the earliest age and of the needs in terms of support for parenthood, including discussions with nearly thirty experts, a qualitative study of 40 families living in situations of poverty, and a comprehensive review of the literature.
• An inventory of the various existing public schemes and French associations: over an hundred associative players were identified and around thirty were interviewed.
• A foreign inspiration phase: a one-week study trip to Quebec in December 2023 enabled us to meet with nearly fifteen players (ministry, university, foundations, associations) for further inspiration.
• The formalization of a roadmap for public authorities and private sponsors to strengthen support for poor parents.

+50 university research studies analyzed

+30 experts interviewed

+100 nonprofit organizations identified

40 families in situations of poverty included in a qualitative survey

5 recommendations to make a difference

Download the full report and appendices

Download the full report here

A summary is available here

For further reading, the following appendices are available :

Crédit photo : Adobe Stock